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NASA NTRS2000

North Atlantic Aerosol Properties and Direct Radiative Effects: Key Results from TARFOX and ACE-2

Aerosol effects on atmospheric radiative fluxes provide a forcing function that can change the climate In potentially significant ways. This aerosol radiative forcing is a major source of uncertainty in understanding the observed climate change of the past century and in predicting future climate. To help reduce this uncertainty, the International Global Atmospheric Chemistry Project (IGAC) has endorsed a series of multiplatform aerosol field campaigns. The Tropospheric Aerosol Radiative Forcing Observational Experiment (TARFOX) and the second Aerosol Characterization Experiment (ACE-2) were the first IGAC campaigns to address the impact of anthropogenic aerosols, Both TARFOX and ACE-2 gathered extensive data sets on aerosol properties and radiative effects, TARFOX focused on the urban-industrial haze plume flowing from the eastern United States over the western Atlantic Ocean, whereas ACE-2 studied aerosols carried over the eastern Atlantic from both European urban/industrial and African mineral sources. These aerosols often have a marked influence on the top-of-atmosphere radiances measured by satellites. Shown there are contours of aerosol optical depth derived from radiances measured by the AVHRR sensor on the NOAA-11 satellite. The contours readily show that aerosols originating in North America, Europe, and Africa impact the radiative properties of air over the North Atlantic. However, the accurate derivation of flux changes, or radiative forcing, from the satellite measured radiances or retrieved optical depths remains a difficult challenge. In this paper we summarize key initial results from TARFOX and, to a lesser extent, ACE-2, with a focus on those results that allow an improved assessment of the flux changes caused by North Atlantic aerosols at middle latitudes.

Russell, P. B.↗
NASA NTRS2002

The Science Behind the NASA/NOAA Electronic Theater 2002

Details of the science stories and scientific results behind the Etheater Earth Science Visualizations from the major remote sensing institutions around the country will be explained. The NASA Electronic Theater presents Earth science observations and visualizations in a historical perspective. Fly in from outer space to Temple Square and the University of Utah Campus. Go back to the early weather satellite images from the 1960s see them contrasted with the latest US/Europe/Japan global weather data. See the latest images and image sequences from NASA & NOAA missions like Terra, GOES, NOAA, TRMM, SeaWiFS, Landsat 7 visualized with state-of-the art tools. A similar retrospective of numerical weather models from the 1960s will be compared with the latest "year 2002" high-resolution models. See the inner workings of a powerful hurricane as it is sliced and dissected using the University of Wisconsin Vis-5D interactive visualization system. The largest super computers are now capable of realistic modeling of the global oceans. See ocean vortexes and currents that bring up the nutrients to feed phitoplankton and zooplankton as well as draw the crill fish, whales and fisherman. See the how the ocean blooms in response to these currents and El Nino/La Nina climate regimes. The Internet and networks have appeared while computers and visualizations have vastly improved over the last 40 years. These advances make it possible to present the broad scope and detailed structure of the huge new observed and simulated datasets in a compelling and instructive manner. New visualization tools allow us to interactively roam & zoom through massive global images larger than 40,000 x 20,000 pixels. Powerful movie players allow us to interactively roam, zoom & loop through 4000 x 4000 pixel bigger than HDTV movies of up to 5000 frames. New 3D tools allow highly interactive manipulation of detailed perspective views of many changing model quantities. See the 1m resolution before and after shots of lower Manhattan and the Pentagon after the September 11 disaster as well as shots of Afghanistan from the Space Imaging IKONOS as well as debris plume images from Terra MODIS and SPOT Image. Shown by the SGI-Octane Graphics-Supercomputer are visualizations of hurricanes Michelle 2001, Floyd, Mitch, Fran and Linda. Our visualizations of these storms have been featured on the covers of the National Geographic, Time, Newsweek and Popular Science. Highlights will be shown from the NASA's large collection of High Definition TV (HDTV) visualizations clips New visualizations of a Los Alamos global ocean model, and high-resolution results of a NASA/JPL Atlantic ocean basin model showing currents, and salinity features will be shown. El Nino/La Nina effects on sea surface temperature and sea surface height of the Pacific Ocean will also be shown. The SST simulations will be compared with GOES Gulf Stream animations and ocean productivity observations. Tours will be given of the entire Earth's land surface at 500 m resolution from recently composited Terra MODIS data, Visualizations will be shown from the Earth Science Etheater 2001 recently presented over the last years in New Zealand, Johannesburg, Tokyo, Paris, Munich, Sydney, Melbourne, Honolulu, Washington, New York City, Pasadena, UCAR/Boulder, and Penn State University. The presentation will use a 2-CPU SGI/CRAY Octane Super Graphics workstation with 4 GB RAM and terabyte disk array at 2048 x 768 resolution plus multimedia laptop with three high resolution projectors. Visualizations will also be featured from museum exhibits and presentations including: the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in Washington, IMAX theater at the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore, the James Lovell Discovery World Science museum in Milwaukee, the American Museum of Natural History (NYC) Hayden Planetarium IMAX theater, etc. The Etheater is sponsored by NASA, NOAA and the American Meteorological Society. This presentation is brought to you by the University of Utah College of Mines and Earth Sciences and, the Utah Museum of Natural History.

Hasler, A. Fritz↗
NASA NTRS1998

North Atlantic Aerosol Properties and Direct Radiative Effects: Key Results from TARFOX and ACE-2

Aerosol effects on atmospheric radiative fluxes provide a forcing function that can change the climate in potentially significant ways. This aerosol radiative Forcing is a major source of uncertainty in understanding the observed climate change of the past century and in predicting, future climate. To help reduce this uncertainty, the International Global Atmospheric Chemistry Project (IGAC) has endorsed a series of multiplatform aerosol field campaigns. The Tropospheric Aerosol Radiative Forcing Observational Experiment (TARFOX) and the second Aerosol Characterization Experiment (ACE-2) were the first IGAC campaigns to address the impact of anthropogenic aerosols. Both TARFOX and ACE-2 gathered extensive data sets on aerosol properties and radiative effects. TARFOX focused on the urban-industrial haze plume flowing from the eastern United States over the western Atlantic Ocean, whereas ACE-2 studied aerosols carried over the eastern Atlantic from both European urban/industrial and African mineral sources. These aerosols often have a marked influence on the top-of-atmosphere radiances measured by satellites, as illustrated in Figure 1. Shown there are contours of aerosol optical depth derived from radiances measured by the AVHRR sensor on the NOAA-11 satellite. The contours readily show that aerosols originating in North America, Europe, and Africa impact the radiative properties of air over the North Atlantic. However, the accurate derivation of flux chances, or radiative forcing, from the satellite-measured radiances or 'etrieved optical depths remains a difficult challenge. In this paper we summarize key Initial results from TARFOX and, to a lesser extent ACE-2, with a focus on those results that allow an improved assessment of the flux changes caused by North Atlantic aerosols at middle and high latitudes.

Russell, P. B.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Low-frequency variability of the global sea surface height revealed by satellite altimetry

The focus of the paper is the variability of the North Atlantic Ocean. Large-scale low-frequency variability of the North Atlantic has recently been studied based on model simulations, as well as analysis of altimetry data in conjuction with in-situ data. These studies have suggested significant interannual to decadal changes in the North Atlantic in the 1990's.

sea level↗
NASA NTRS1972

The FRALIT teledetection program, using the ERTS-A satellite, for the oceanic littoral of France

There are no author-identified significant results in this report. The French Atlantic Littoral program, utilizing data from the ERTS-1 satellite, is considered. It involves teledetection of the French shoreline along the Atlantic Ocean and English Channel. A description is given of the ERTS-1 orbit and the satellite itself, including the attitude control system, and the data acquisition and transmission equipment. The geographic extent of the area covered by the program is delineated and the subjects studied are enumerated. These include the geomorphology, pedology, hydrology, and vegetation of the maritime marshes; sedimentology, morphology, and hydrology of the intertidal zones; and transport of material in suspension to the mouths of the Seine, the Loire, and the Gironde as a part of the coastal waters study.

Verger, F.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Ocean Chlorophyll Studies from a U-2 Aircraft Platform

Chlorophyll gradient maps of large ocean areas were generated from U-2 ocean color scanner data obtained over test sites in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. The delineation of oceanic features using the upward radiant intensity relies on an analysis method which presupposes that radiation backscattered from the atmosphere and ocean surface can be properly modeled using a measurement made at 778 nm. An estimation of the chlorophyll concentration was performed by properly ratioing radiances measured at 472 nm and 548 nm after removing the atmospheric effects. The correlation between the remotely sensed data and in-situ surface chlorophyll measurements was validated in two sets of data. The results show that the correlation between the in-situ measured chlorophyll and the derived quantity is a negative exponential function and the correlation coefficient was calculated to be -0.965.

Kim, H. H.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Airborne lidar detection of subsurface oceanic scattering layers

The airborne lidar detection and cross-sectional mapping of submerged oceanic scattering layers are reported. The field experiment was conducted in the Atlantic Ocean southeast of Assateague Island, VA. NASA's Airborne Oceanographic Lidar was operated in the bathymetric mode to acquire on-wavelength 532-nm depth-resolved backscatter signals from shelf/slope waters. Unwanted laser pulse reflection from the air-water interface was minimized by spatial filtering and off-nadir operation. The presence of thermal stratification over the shelf was verified by the deployment of airborne expendable bathythermographs. Optical beam transmission measurements acquired from a surface truthing vessel indicated the presence of a layer of turbid water near the sea floor over the inner portion of the shelf.

Hoge, Frank E.↗
NASA NTRS1991

South African TOPEX/Poseidon altimeter experiment

The area surrounding the southern tip of Africa contains a juxtaposition of a variety of interesting and climatically relevant features. On the Indian Ocean side, the Agulhas Current with its tributaries form a conduit through which much of the southern Indian Ocean surface flow is focused. South of the continent, this flow is fragmented and partially injected into the Atlantic Ocean and across the Subtropical Convergence into the Southern Ocean. To the west of the subcontinent, the circulation of the South Atlantic subtropical gyre in the Cape Basin interacts with the vigorous Benguela upwelling regime. The creation, transformation, and transport of water masses and the intra-annual and climatic importance of all these processes have been specifically recognized by the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE). The South African TOPEX/POSEIDON Altimeter Experiment addresses many of these issues through four mutually complementary and interrelated subprojects.

Gruendlingh, Marten L.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Observations and models of inertial waves in the deep ocean

A study of the structure of the inertial peak in deep ocean kinetic energy is presented, based on records taken from Polymode arrays deployed in the western North Atlantic Ocean. Results are interpreted in terms of both local sources and turning point effects on internal waves generated at lower latitudes, and it is found that three classes of environment and their corresponding spectra emerge from peak height variations: (1) the 1500-m level near the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, with the greatest peak height of 18 dB; (2) the upper and deep ocean over rough topography and the deep ocean underneath the Gulf Stream, with the intermediate peak height of 11.5 dB; and (3) the deep ocean over smooth topography, with the lowest peak height of 7.5 dB. Using the globally valid wave functions obtained by Munk and Phillips (1968), frequency spectra near f are calculated numerically. The model is latitudinally dependent, with the frequency shift and bandwidth of the inertial peak decreasing with latitude.

Fu, L.-L.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Satellite derived atmosphere water vapor as a tracer of large scale interactions between the atmosphere and ocean

Two water-vapor distributions and the accompanying circulation patterns which occurred over the North and South Atlantic Ocean during February 1979 are described. It is shown that scanning multichannel microwave radiometer observations from the Nimbus-7 satellite are used to remotely sense the vertically integrated atmospheric water vapor and liquid water, and the surface wind speed over the ocean and that they provide information on the ocean-atmosphere interaction. To provide evidence of the events revealed in the satellite observations, FGGE data are used.

Short, D. A.↗
NASA NTRS1997

HO(x) Measurements in SONEX with the Airborne Tropospheric Hydrogen Oxides Sensor (ATHOS)

SONEX, which was delayed by aircraft inspection problems, began the second week of October and concluded in mid-November with 16 flights. These flights covered the Pacific Ocean off the western United States, transits across the United States, the western coast of Europe, and the North and Central Atlantic Ocean. Particular attention was paid to the North Atlantic Flight Corridor. ATHOS collected high-quality HO(x) data on 15 flights. Observations taken at 5 Hz were typically averaged into 20-second measurements. Each 20-second measurement has precision 1(sigma) of less than 0.01 pptv. OH measurements were generally made from the surface to flight altitudes. HO2 measurements, which require reagent NO flow, were made from flight altitudes to near the top of the planetary boundary layer. Measured OH and HO2 during SONEX was generally lower than the measured OH and HO2 during SUCCESS (April-May, 1996, central United States). Whereas during SUCCESS midday OH was 0.1-0.5 pptv and HO2 was 3-15 pptv, during SONEX midday OH was 0.02-0.2 pptv and HO2 was 0.5-8 pptv. Part of this difference results from the midday solar zenith angles, which were larger during SONEX than during SUCCESS due to both the season and the generally higher latitudes sampled during SONEX. However, some of the difference may be due to differences in HOx sources, since less air influenced by convection was sampled during SONEX. These possibilities await post-flight calibrations of ATHOS and analysis of observations of HO(x) and simultaneously measured meteorology and trace species.

Brune, William M.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Low frequency oscillations in total ozone measurements

Low frequency oscillations with periods of approximately one to two months are found in eight years of global grids of total ozone data from the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) satellite instrument. The low frequency oscillations corroborate earlier analyses based on four years of data. In addition, both annual and seasonal one-point correlation maps based on the 8-year TOMS data are presented. The results clearly show a standing dipole in ozone perturbations, oscillating with 35 to 50 day periods over the equatorial Indian Ocean-west Pacific region. This contrasts with the eastward moving dipole reported in other data sets. The standing ozone dipole appears to be a dynamical feature associated with vertical atmospheric motions. Consistent with prior analyses based on lower stratospheric temperature fields, large-scale standing patterns are also found in the extratropics of both hemispheres, correlated with ozone fluctuations over the equatorial west Pacific. In the Northern Hemisphere, a standing pattern is observed extending from the tropical Indian Ocean to the north Pacific, across North America, and down to the equatorial Atlantic Ocean region. This feature is most pronounced in the NH summer.

Gao, X. H.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Low-frequency oscillations in total ozone measurements

Low frequency oscillations with periods of approximately one to two months are found in eight years of global grids of total ozone data from the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) satellite instrument. The low frequency oscillations corroborate earlier analyses based on four years of data. In addition, both annual and seasonal one-point correlation maps based on the 8-year TOMS data are presented. The results clearly show a standing dipole in ozone perturbations, oscillating with 35 to 50 day periods over the equatorial Indian Ocean-west Pacific region. This contrasts with the eastward moving dipole reported in other data sets. The standing ozone dipole appears to be a dynamical feature associated with vertical atmospheric motions. Consistent with prior analyses based on lower stratospheric temperature fields, large-scale standing patterns are also found in the extratropics of both hemispheres, correlated with ozone fluctuations over the equatorial west Pacific. In the Northern Hemisphere, a standing pattern is observed extending from the tropical Indian Ocean to the north Pacific, across North America, and down to the equatorial Atlantic Ocean region. This feature is most pronounced in the NH summer.

Gao, X. H.↗
NASA NTRS2006

AIRS Observations of Deep Convective Clouds

Large thunderstorms can be identified in the AIRS data as areas where the brightness temperature of the 1231 cm-1 atmospheric window channel in non-polar areas is less than 210 K. Each day about 6000 large thunderstorms are identified, almost exclusively within 30 degrees of the equator. Since the size of the AIRS footprint at nadir is 13.5 km, a brightness temperature of less than 210 K indicates that the top of the anvil of the thunderstorm protrudes well into the tropopause. Such objects are commonly referred to as Deep Convective Clouds (DCC). Our interest in DCC was motivated by the question 'Are severe weather events increasing due to global warming'. Each DCC is a severe weather event, although not on the scale of the much less frequent hurricanes, which can be identified in the AIRS data as clusters of several hundred DCC. The number of DCC per day has been fairly stable over the past four years for the mean of the tropical oceans, but a significant increase can be seen day and night in the Atlantic Ocean. The number of DCC per day shows a strong seasonal and latitudinal dependence, with the peak count lagging the solstice of the latitude zone by about 2 months. The most prominent features in brightness temperature spectra of DCC are due to stratospheric CO2, Ozone and Methane. In the channels with weighting functions below the stratosphere the brightness temperature is typically 205 K, with a characteristic 1 to 2.5 K drop between 1000 and 750 cm-1, equivalent to a 2-4 % drop in emissivity. This is likely due to the presence of cirrus (ice) particles. Some of this analysis of DCC can be extended using past and future operational sounders in polar orbit.

temperature↗
NASA NTRS2002

North Atlantic Surface Winds Examined as the Source of Warm Advection into Europe in Winter

When from the southwest, North Atlantic ocean surface winds are known to bring warm and moist airmasses into central Europe in winter. By tracing backward trajectories from western Europe, we establish that these airmasses originate in the southwestern North Atlantic, in the very warm regions of the Gulf Stream. Over the eastern North Atlantic, Lt the gateway to Europe, the ocean-surface winds changed directions in the second half of the XXth century, those from the northwest and from the southeast becoming so infrequent, that the direction from the southwest became even more dominant. For the January-to-March period, the strength of south-westerlies in this region, as well as in the source region, shows in the years 1948-1995 a significant increase, above 0.2 m/sec/ decade. Based on the sensitivity of the surface temperature in Europe, slightly more than 1 C for a 1m/sec increase in the southwesterly wind, found in the previous studies, the trend in the warm advection accounts for a large part of the warming in Europe established for this period in several reports. However, for the most recent years, 1996-2001, the positive trend in the southwesterly advection appears to be is broken, which is consistent with unseasonally cold events reported in Europe in those winters. This study had, some bearing on evaluating the respective roles of the North Atlantic Oscillation and the Greenhouse Gas Global warming, GGG, in the strong winter warming observed for about half a century over the northern-latitude continents. Changes in the ocean-surface temperatures induced by GGG may have produced the dominant southwesterly direction of the North Atlantic winds. However, this implies a monotonically (apart from inherent interannual variability) increasing advection, and if the break in the trend which we observe after 1995 persists, this mechanism is counter-indicated. The 1948-1995 trend in the south-westerlies could then be considered to a large degree attributable to the North Atlantic Oscillation.

Otterman, J.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Present-day plate motions

A data set comprising 110 spreading rates, 78 transform fault azimuths and 142 earthquake slip vectors was inverted to yield a new instantaneous plate motion model, designated RM2. The mean averaging interval for the relative motion data was reduced to less than 3 My. A detailed comparison of RM2 with angular velocity vectors which best fit the data along individual plate boundaries indicates that RM2 performs close to optimally in most regions, with several notable exceptions. On the other hand, a previous estimate (RM1) failed to satisfy an extensive set of new data collected in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is shown that RM1 incorrectly predicts the plate kinematics in the South Atlantic because the presently available data are inconsistent with the plate geometry assumed in deriving RM1. It is demonstrated that this inconsistency can be remedied by postulating the existence of internal deformation with the Indian plate, although alternate explanations are possible.

Minster, J. B.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Black Carbon in Estuarine and Coastal Ocean Dissolved Organic Matter

Analysis of high-molecular-weight dissolved organic matter (DOM) from two estuaries in the northwest Atlantic Ocean reveals that black carbon (BC) is a significant component of previously uncharacterized DOM, suggesting that river-estuary systems are important exporters of recalcitrant dissolved organic carbon to the ocean.

Mannino, Antonio↗
NASA NTRS2015

Effect of Cloud Fraction on Near-Cloud Aerosol Behavior in the MODIS Atmospheric Correction Ocean Color Product

Characterizing the way satellite-based aerosol statistics change near clouds is important for better understanding both aerosol-cloud interactions and aerosol direct radiative forcing. This study focuses on the question of whether the observed near-cloud increases in aerosol optical thickness and particle size may be explained by a combination of two factors: (i) Near-cloud data coming from areas with higher cloud fractions than far-from-cloud data and (ii) Cloud fraction being correlated with aerosol optical thickness and particle size. This question is addressed through a statistical analysis of aerosol parameters included in the MODIS (MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) ocean color product. Results from ten Septembers (2002-2011) over part of the northeast Atlantic Ocean confirm that the combination of these two factors working together explains a significant but not dominant part (in our case, 15%-30%) of mean optical thickness changes near clouds. Overall, the findings show that cloud fraction plays a large role in shaping the way aerosol statistics change with distance to clouds. This implies that both cloud fraction and distance to clouds are important to consider when aerosol-cloud interactions or aerosol direct radiative effects are examined in satellite or modeling studies.

Remote sensing↗